New Year Celebration in Guatemala

New Years Eve celebration in Guatemala reminds me of the Independence Day in the USA. It is a family event for picnics outside, BBQs, parades and fireworks. The just substitute hispanic equivalents for everything and you have the basic idea.

Traditional black tamales

I’m beginning to think there are specific holiday tamales for every holiday; it might just be true! For New Years they have a traditional black tamale that is made only for that time of the year. It is sweet and tastes a bit like maple syrup or molasses was added. You can buy them from street vendors, or many families make them themselves.

Street entertainment

Antigua seems to be the place to be for New Years in Guatemala. Because the capital is only about 30 minutes away, thousands of Guatemalans from the capital travel here to celebrate. They pack the street from central park all the way up to the church beyond the arch. The street is closed to traffic and divided into four entertainment areas (about one per block). Each area has some sort of music and something fun to see. One had traditional mamba music and giant dancing puppet type things with swinging arms. Because I’m so tall, Guatemalans got a kick out of it if I would dance like the giant puppets twisting so my arms would flail back and forth. Another area had a mime comedian who juggled and interacted with the crowd. Another was stilt dancers and another encouraged people from the crowd to dance to music. All this lasted from 4pm until around 10pm.

Fireworks

Around 10pm people started moving from the street under the arch to the central park. Personal fireworks would be set off in two street areas that were cleared for the purpose. Vendors sold LED lighted toys and head bands. The city fire crew would be setting of bombs every few minutes which would cause the ground to shake as the blast wave would almost take your breath away. Girls would jump and then giggle as they were startled by the sound. After a few I started wearing ear plugs; they were that loud! Random smaller fireworks were seen blocks away to the north and south as private companies had their own shows (I’m guessing these were hotels). About 10 or 15 minutes prior to midnight the city fireworks started. They were huge and impressive continuing until 10 or 15 minutes past midnight. They were punctuated by the loudest bomb explosions I’ve heard yet. Things calmed down to random private fireworks for the next 45 minutes and by 1pm all was quiet as people headed home.

Morning after

I’m not sure why, but the morning after every holiday so far, around 10pm someone feels the need to do some bombs again shaking buildings and at noon really big bombs go off maybe 20 or so only a few seconds apart. It is enough to make you stop what you are doing and take notice (or look at you watch wondering what the heck is going on which is my typical response). The Guatemalans love their fireworks and bombs! Happy New Year 2012 (I hope the world doesn’t end!).